Don't look now, kids, but the rebuilding project is chugging right along in Gainesville. After sending all of their big guns to the NBA (even, temporarily, their coach), the Gators looked like roadkill in a revamped SEC East. Kentucky was expected to regain ground under new coach Billy Gillespie, but the Wildcats anchor league standings at 4-4, while Billy Donovan (could we get some more Billys in here? Thanks.) has his young team at 10-1, and building confidence every day.
Of course, they're building confidence the same way the football team does - by grinding up smaller programs. Following a season-opening home victory against North Dakota State, the Gators have welcomed a parade of directionals, Techs, and directional-state-techs, losing only to ACC also-ran Florida State. Over the weekend, they beat one of our mid-major surprises - the Georgia Southern Eagles - in a 52-49 knuckle-dragger that was uglier than Joakim Noah's dashiki.
The bright spots on this team are freshman G/F Nick Calathes (kid brother of Pat Calathes, who is leading a struggling St. Joe's team up in Philly), and bruising sophomore F/C Marreese Speights. Sophomore Forward Dan Werner is wildly inconsistent, but shows flashes of brilliance (2pts, 4rebs vs. FSU; 20 and 14 vs. Georgia Southern).
Donovan is coaching a funky-looking roster, so if he makes it work, he may truly be a genius. After Speights, the next tallest player is 6'9" frosh Chandler Parsons, who is a relative beanpole at barely 200 pounds. The team is loaded with tweeners, as the frequent appearance of the / above would indicate. But Florida is the speed capital of the collegiate world, so bulk is probably not required to run the Billy D. game plan.
Looking ahead, the defending champs are still looking to cruise into the conference season, with a roadie at wishy-washy Ohio State the only potential stumbling block before a nationally-televised SEC opener at Alabama on January 8th. Vandy and Tennessee still look to be the powers in the East, and Ole Miss is the only constant in the West right now, so there might be room for the Gators in the national conversation again soon. I wouldn't lay money on that three-peat, but anyone expecting this club to fold up the tents and lay low in March might want to re-evaluate.
And you know, without Noah around, I almost don't mind.
With all the online degree programs out there you should be able to find a way to start on a path toward school sports from home and save money with grants for education available from various sources.
3 comments:
Can't you just see the story now, with Florida making the Sweet 16 this season, and becoming a media darling again?
They barely beat Georgia Southern, got crushed by FSU, and havent played a true road game yet. Theyre such a mirage, like Clemson last year (just not as good).
At this point, it looks like this Gators squad is going to perform well depending on how Calathes does. He struggled against FSU, and they lost. He did put up 15 against GSU, but shot just 14.3% from the floor and they barely won.
Hopefully some of the other guys can increase their consistency to help take the pressure off of Calathes when he's having an off night.
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